THE FINISH line of the AFLW Fantasy season may be on the horizon, and scores for all Fantasy teams were likely a fair bit smaller than during the double-game weeks, but there are still plenty of reasons to get excited for the final two weeks!
First of all, Ebony Marinoff remains on track to complete the most dominant Fantasy season in history, and nothing about her relaxed 26 kicks, 10 handballs, five marks and seven tackles for a 136 against Collingwood suggests that she will be nothing less than spectacular in a clash of the titans on Friday night when Adelaide plays North Melbourne.
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Further, this is the time of the season to get creative in your trades. With bench cash generation now being pretty marginal, climbing the ranks can often be down to finding the right highly owned premium options with reasons for concern (e.g. Sinead Goldrick) to downgrade to a potential point of difference (e.g. Gabby Newton) capable of well outscoring the trade out.
With a whole stack of fascinating trade in options (listen to the Free Kick podcast this week, it's a bumper episode chock full of potential targets), and some truly blockbuster games on the fixture, it's never been a better time to be an AFLW Fantasy coach.
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Top five price rises
Shineah Goody (MID, $893,000): +$173,000
Emily Bates (MID, $1,200,000): +$149,000
Taylah Levy (MID, $545,000): +$142,000
Sarah Goodwin (DEF, $797,000): +$140,000
Dominique Carruthers (MID, $821,000): +$140,000
Top five price falls
Lucy Single (MID, $968,000): -$159,000
Blaithin Mackin (MID, $472,000): -$159,000
Gab Pound (DEF, $641,000): -$136,000
Mikayla Williamson (MID, $474,000): -$126,000
Eliza James (FWD, $474,000): -$125,000
Treat
Gabby Newton (DEF, $1,067,000)
Newton is one of the form defenders of AFLW Fantasy right now, with a low of 88 in her last three games. Having a defender running through the midfield is a treat at any time of the season, but particularly now with Freo's run to finish the season – it'll be worth paying up for Newton's scores against the Giants and Bulldogs! For those with a little less cash, Ruby Schleicher is finally showing this season the Fantasy prowess she's had in previous years.
Alyce Parker (MID, $1,151,000)
The midfield bull looks prepped for a big game this week against the Dockers, who love a highly contested stoppage game. With a ceiling over 110, Parker has the ability to put up a big score in her last two to jump your team up the ranks! The only concern is her poor record at Henson Park in 2024, with the small ground sometimes limiting her marking.
Ash Saint (FWD, $789,000)
After a quiet start to the 2024 season, Ash Saint has been a big part of the Power's renewed form. Her season high of 82 on the weekend came from two goals, 13 touches and five tackles. With an easier fixture of Gold Coast and GWS to finish the season, Saint is considerably underpriced for her scoring potential.
Trap
Aileen Gilroy (DEF, $913,000)
Gilroy may be about to suffer from her own success, with teams all across the competition taking note of her incredible three-goal games against the Eagles and Giants. The Hawks have benefited greatly from her form and so with Melbourne and Richmond keen to lock in their place in finals, both will be looking for ways to shut down the long-kicking speedster in the final two rounds.
Emma King (RUC, $812,000)
For those looking to move on the GWS rookie Eilish O'Dowd, North's Emma King presents as a simple sideways move at the same price and great form. But buyer beware here, with King set to face the toughest match-up for Fantasy rucks in Jess Allan (ADE) this weekend. Avoid!
Cynthia Hamilton (FWD, $782,000)
Hamilton has been in stellar form lately, getting the job done against the Suns (85) and the undefeated Kangaroos (69). But following a surprising loss to the Cats, the Lions are likely to come out breathing fire on Sunday and Hamilton may find it tough to find the opportunities she has had so far this season.
Trade
Sinead Goldrick (DEF, $787,000)
I would love to give readers the idea that Goldrick is but a moment away from returning to her form from the first half the season but alas, I cannot. With Melbourne regaining several key players from injury (Purcell, Pearce and Zanker) and from bad form (Hore and Hanks), no longer is the bash and crash style of Goldrick required to will the Demons at contests. With all semblance of a midfield role gone, and with a bad match-up on Thursday night vs Hawthorn, it is definitely time to trade Goldrick out.
Caitlin Gould (FWD, $904,000)
Insane to suggest that a forward who just scored 90 points is a trade out option, but sadly, I am the bearer of bad news. North Melbourne defends key forwards better than anyone else in the AFLW, with these being the scores they've allow across the last three games: Toogood 36, Gough 5, Privitelli 33, Smith 17, Hartwig 45, McKee 26, Woodley 21. With Gould's Adelaide facing this blackhole of forward scoring, it is a great time to capitalise on the $122k that Gould has gained in the last two weeks to upgrade other lines.
Daisy D'Arcy (DEF, $820,000)
26 is a bad score, plain and simple. That score was affected by an injury early in the third quarter that didn't see D'Arcy return until midway through the fourth quarter, and it was likely impacted by the return of Claudia Whitfort to the Suns' midfield. Notwithstanding the fact that D'Arcy should see more midfield time with Lucy Single set miss their next game (concussion), the third occurrence of an injury mid game is a worry. D'Arcy is clearly carrying multiple complaints late in the season, as evidenced by the mountains of tape across her knees and elbows and looked extremely ginger when doing a fitness test last week. With several attractive defensive options to select, I'm OK with trading out this highly owned premium defender.
Eilish O'Dowd (RUC, $812,000)
O'Dowd was someone that I advocated considering as a trade out last week, particularly where coaches didn't have issues across other lines. For the rest of the competition who held O'Dowd for a solid 70 vs Hawthorn, now is undoubtedly the time to rapidly escalate plans to trade out the Irish rookie. The Giants face the AFLW Fantasy 'giant', Mim Strom and O'Dowd is a test to miss the game with a rolled ankle suffered late in the Hawks game. This awful combination of brutal match-up and potential injury, against a team with a game style likely to cut down on the outside and forward stoppage space that O'Dowd loves, mean now is the time to trade.
Top rookies
Analea McKee (FWD, $325,000)
Anna-Rose Kennedy (DEF, $398,000)
Amelie Borg (DEF, $300,000)
Hayley McLaughlin (MID, $373,000)
Lauren Butler (DEF, $387,000)
Captains' Corner
At this stage of the season, I have nearly run out of words to describe the Fantasy dominance of Ebony Marinoff. Yet again she was the highest scorer of the week, and now averages 39 points more than the next best player (150.6 to Ash Riddell's 111.6). Those two midfielders face off in Week 9, but my prediction for the most fruitful scoring game is the Fremantle-GWS fixture, with Alyce Parker, Aisling McCarthy and Mim Strom likely to score well.
No.1: Ebony Marinoff* (vs. North Melbourne)
No.2: Mim Strom* (vs. GWS)
No.3: Alyce Parker* (vs. Fremantle)
No.4: Aisling McCarthy* (vs. GWS)
No.5: Jasmine Garner* (vs. West Coast Eagles)
Other options to consider: Keeley Sherar (vs. Collingwood), Jess Fitzgerald (vs. St Kilda), Issy Pritchard (vs. St Kilda), Charlie Rowbottom (vs. Port Adelaide), Claudia Whitfort (vs. Port Adelaide), Eliza West* (vs. Melbourne)
* Able to used as a VC
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